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Faculties

Indriyasutta

The noble attainments described in terms of three faculties.

Translated by Bhikkhu Sujato · Pāli: Mahāsaṅgīti Tipiṭaka · Public domain (CC0) via SuttaCentral

  • 0.1Itivuttaka 62So It Was Said 62
  • 0.2TikanipātaThe Book of the Threes
  • 0.3DutiyavaggaChapter Two

0.4IndriyasuttaFaculties

1.1Vuttañhetaṁ bhagavatā vuttamarahatāti me sutaṁ:This was said by the Buddha, the Perfected One: that is what I heard.1

2.1“Tīṇimāni, bhikkhave, indriyāni.“Mendicants, there are these three faculties.22.2Katamāni tīṇi?What three?2.3Anaññātaññassāmītindriyaṁ, aññindriyaṁ, aññātāvindriyaṁ—The faculty of understanding that enlightenment is imminent. The faculty of enlightenment. The faculty of one who is enlightened.32.4imāni kho, bhikkhave, tīṇi indriyānī”ti.These are the three faculties.”

2.5Etamatthaṁ bhagavā avoca.The Buddha spoke this matter.2.6Tatthetaṁ iti vuccati:On this it is said:4

3.1“Sekhassa sikkhamānassa,“As a trainee trains,53.2ujumaggānusārino;following the straight road,3.3Khayasmiṁ paṭhamaṁ ñāṇaṁ,first they know about ending;63.4tato aññā anantarā.enlightenment follows without delay.7

4.1Tato aññāvimuttassa,Then the knowledge comes4.2ñāṇaṁ ve hoti tādino;to such a one, freed through enlightenment,4.3Akuppā me vimuttīti,with the end of the fetters of continued existence:4.4bhavasaṁyojanakkhayā.‘My freedom is unshakable.’8

5.1Sa ve indriyasampanno,Accomplished in the faculties,5.2santo santipade rato;peaceful, in love with the state of peace,5.3Dhāreti antimaṁ dehaṁ,they bear their final body,5.4jetvā māraṁ savāhinin”ti.having vanquished Māra with his legions.”9

6.1Ayampi attho vutto bhagavatā, iti me sutanti.This too is a matter that was spoken by the Blessed One: that is what I heard.

6.2Tatiyaṁ.

Translator’s notes

  1. These three faculties—also found at DN 33:1.10.111 and SN 48.23:1.3—are indicative of a growing fascination with analyzing the details of what exactly happens in the process of enlightenment. The exact meaning is not obvious, but the verses here offer clues to interpretation, so I annotate them closely.

    ↩ iti62:1.1

  2. The three faculties are mentioned in late canonical texts, which treat them as starting with the path to stream-entry. I believe, based on the terms themselves and the verses, that they concern the realization of arahantship. Briefly, the Abhidhamma Vibhaṅga, albeit cryptically, indicates that the first two faculties are the path to stream-entry and the practice of the trainee from stream-entry onward (Vb 5:24.1). The Nettipakaraṇa says the first faculty leads to overcoming the first three fetters, i.e. stream-entry (Ne 5:28.1). This is consistent with Ne 37:392.1 and the Peṭakopadesa at Pe 3:35.1, which explain this faculty as the effort to realize the four noble truths for the first time. Even more explicit is the Paṭisambhidāmagga at Ps 1.4:91.1 = Ps 1.1:513.1, which says the first faculty occurs at “the moment of the path to stream-entry”. The idea of the “path moment”, however, is alien to the Suttas, and indicates a substantial period of doctrinal development; these texts were all written long after the Buddha. The commentary builds on these explanations, for which see Bodhi’s note in Connected Discourses on SN 48.23. Despite this, the verses here say nothing about stream-entry, and speak solely about arahantship.

    ↩ iti62:2.1

  3. The key term is aññā (“enlightenment”), which is used throughout the Suttas to indicate the realization of arahantship specifically. The later texts take it as here being a synonym for the knowledge or realization of a stream-enterer. This is linguistically possible, but not supported by usage in the Suttas.

    “The faculty of understanding that one’s enlightenment is imminent” is literally, “The faculty aware that ‘I shall know the unknown’.”

    ↩ iti62:2.3

  4. Now follow three verses, which correlate one-by-one to the three faculties, and constitute the earliest explanation of the three faculties. In brief, the verses apply the three faculties to: (1) the path to arahantship; (2) the occasion of realizing arahantship; (3) one living as an arahant. They are not, in my view, reconcilable with the traditional interpretation.

    ↩ iti62:2.6

  5. This first line indicates that the first faculty is restricted to those who have entered the noble path. The tradition takes this as meaning all those who have entered the noble path, but I think it is a subset, namely the one “practicing to realize the fruit of arahantship”. This is a person, not a mind moment (MN 142:5.9).

    ↩ iti62:3.1

  6. In the Suttas, this is normally the “knowledge of the ending of defilements”, which is characteristic of the arahant (eg. SN 12.23).

    ↩ iti62:3.3

  7. Ending of defilements “without delay” (anantarā) is taught numerous time as the advanced meditation practice aimed squarely at arahantship in this very life, typically explained as seeing the impermanence of the five aggregates (SN 22.55:10.1, SN 22.81:5.1, AN 5.170, AN 6.27, AN 6.28). Also similar is the stock phrase “enlightenment in this very life” (diṭṭheva dhamme aññā, SN 47.36:1.9). This seems to exclude most of those on the noble path: even the non-returners can expect one more life. Only the seventh of the eight noble individuals, those who have entered the path to arahantship, are assured of enlightenment in this very life. Taken with the previous line, this indicates that those on the path to arahantship first see that the defilements are ending, then (as the next faculty) realize arahantship itself (see DN 34:1.3.25). In fact, it would seems as if the point of these three faculties is to clarify this process.

    ↩ iti62:3.4

  8. The second faculty comes immediately after defilements have ended, when the new arahant reflects on their experience and understands that they are no longer trapped in the cycle of rebirth.

    ↩ iti62:4.4

  9. The final faculty is the arahant living out their last life in peace.

    ↩ iti62:5.4